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Don't Call Me Kevie

I’ve just signed the paperwork to re-finance my home loan so I can buy a new car! I have been wanting to buy a new car for about 12 months, but I just couldn’t do it. At the moment, other then some random bills on my credit car, the only debt I have is my home loan and I was liking not having extreme amounts of debt more than I needed a new car. My car is pretty good; I bought it new in 2003 and while there’s nothing exceptionally wrong with it, I wanted to get rid of it (that sounds do heartless though!) before things started to go wrong. When I put it in at the mechanics for the rego check, the mechanic pointed out to me that the headlights had oxidised on the inside, and while they still shone light, if I replaced the light guard bits they would shine brighter. But other than that it’s a good little car. He has driven me well. The ambient sound inside the car is loud (so I’ve been told), but I don’t notice it.

But I finally did what I normally have to do to make myself do anything, and that is I told someone that I was making an appointment to see about refinancing my home loan so I can get a car. And what do you know, that made me make an appointment with the bank! As we are a small country town, the bank that I went to, does not have a loan officer, so I had to have a Skype session with a lovely gentleman in …. I am assuming Sydney. I am not a fan of Skype – I don’t like being able to see myself in the tiny corner vid – but it went reasonably well, and he gave me the money. I think it was most likely because they aren’t going to get as much money out of me as they originally planned. I am 6 years into a 30 year loan, and I only have 9 and a half years left until it’s paid off. (Apparently what I thought were minimum re-payments were actually more. Way more.)

Once the loan was verbally approved, I rang my parents and told them, so Dad could start looking. It … annoys isn’t the right word, maybe frustrates my parents that I am quite independent and like to do everything for myself. It’s taken a few years, and some fights but I’ve finally started getting my parents to do things for me and this is one of them. Dad is not a handy man in any way shape or form (he won’t even put a nail in the wall to a hang picture off. He has actually got carpenter friends to come around and do that for him), so the best way for him to help me is to do the ground work when I am making a big purchase. (My microwave was on the way out – it was 18 years old – I and mentioned it in passing to Mum. The next thing I know, Dad was ringing me to tell me about a microwave he had found that would suit me. He was going to buy it for me, but I got to it first and bought it. Mum later told me I should have let him buy it for me. He really wanted to buy it for me, as I never ask for money.) But as compromises go, this is a pretty good one. I tell Dad what I want, he tracks it down and does the haggling, then I step in at the end with the money. (Dad does enjoy spending my money. can not blame him for that, it’s always nice to go shopping with someone else’s cash.)

Okay. I am going to admit something that I know is an irrational fear - and I know it is irrational because people tell me - but another reason I have been putting off getting a new car, is that I don’t trust power windows. I am concerned that one day I will accidently drive off a bridge and I won’t be able to wind down the window to get out. (I wear my seatbelt, so if I was to drive off a bridge I am 100% certain that I will survive the initial crash and just have to worry about drowning. IT COULD HAPPEN.) It would be nice to have blue tooth though. The amount of times people ring me when I am driving to find out how far away I am is ridiculous. Either I ignore the call and they worry that I’ve crashed, or I pull over and I get annoyed I stopped to answer when I could be that little bit closer to my distination. It’s a dilemma. I was pretty happy when cars got air conditioning and keyless entry as standard. They could have stopped there and I would have been happy with that.

So on Saturday I am going to the dealer that Dad thought was the nicest and could do a reasonable deal, and I will get him to price up my current car as a trade-In. I should get a couple of grand for it, but as long as they can take it, I will be happy. It would be a good first car for a learner. It’s big enough that it feels like a car, but small enough that you can drive it without feeling like you’re driving a tank. The dealership in my home town was two grand cheaper for the same car, but when I rang I found the dealer to be too pushy, and slightly on the creepy side. The car he showed my Dad had coincidently been sold that very afternoon, and when I said I was still waiting for the loan to be approved, he told me to put a deposit for a car on my credit card. Umm… that was not happening. If I am going to spend a big chunk of money, I want to spend it with someone who does not make me feel rushed. I would rather spend more money with someone that made me feel comfortable and talked with me about what I wanted instead of trying to force something I am not 100% sure of down my throat.

So hopefully in the next couple of weeks, I will be the proud owner of a new Nissan Dualis. I have taken one for a teset drive and it felt fantastic to drive, and it is slightly higher off the ground than my car, so I will be more comfortable driving on the highway with all the trucks that travel along it.